A Lesson From My Mother - Biscuits 101

I make crappy biscuits. My mother, on the other hand, makes wonderful ones. Hers are always soft and flakey. They pull apart in wonderful layers, just waiting for butter to melt on top of them. Mine are like hockey pucks. I've decided that the only way to improve my biscuit making is a lesson from the master.

Before we started, she gave me some pointers. Always put the butter in the freezer before using and make sure your milk is as cold as possible. She also pointed out that I should make great pastry because my hands are always cold as ice. I guess some people have a hard time making good pastry because their hands are too warm and it melts the butter. Who knew my lack of circulation would be good for something!

I've been craving dill and cheddar since we had a test meal at the Shaw Conference Centre a couple of weeks ago. They served the most wonderful dill and cheddar scones and I thought I might give dill and cheddar biscuits a shot

The measurements are close guestimations of what she used, since she just eyeballed her measurements

Dill and Cheddar Biscuits

Makes 6 biscuits

2 cups flour

1 tbsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

2 tbsp chopped fresh dill

3/4 cup grated cheddar cheese

3/4 cup grated frozen butter

3/4 cup cold milk

Whisk the flour, baking powder and salt together in a large bowl. Then add the dill and cheddar cheese and mix thoroughly. Add the frozen butter to the dry ingredients and mix gently until the butter is covered in the flour mixture.

Add the milk stirring with a fork until it forms a ragged dough. Turn the mixture out on to a lightly floured surface and knead gently until it just comes together. The dough will still be quite floury. Pat the dough into a rectangular shap and to a thickness of about a 3/4 inch. Cut the dough into 6 square or use a biscuit cutter to make rounds. Bake on an ungreased baking sheet at 425 F for 10 - 12 minutes.

Pull out the butter and enjoy immediately!

Vegas, It's All About The Excess

Go big or go home. That's always the motto in Vegas, and we took it to heart the last day there. Well, actually it was go big and then go home. On our last day we had to be at the airport by 1:00 pm, so we decided a big breakfast was in order. I'd read some reviews about Hash House A Go Go at the Imperial Palace and after some of the comments, I knew that we wouldn't be leaving hungry.

This is definately extreme food. We could have easily shared one breakfast and still had plenty.

Andy's Sage Fried Chicken Benedict with Maple Reduction, two eggs, bacon mashed potatoes and a biscuit ($15.95).

The platter was a wide as Dave!

The Hash House Original - Smoked bacon, fresh tomato, fresh spinach, roasted red pepper cream topped with two basted eggs ($11.95)

The food was definately big, but so was the wait to get our order. Our waiter warned us that because everything was made fresh and they didn't use microwaves or heat lamps our food might not come out at the same time and would take little longer than average to come out.

After waiting an hour for our meals, we were happy that they at least showed up at the same time. Thankfully, our waiter had at least kept the coffee flowing. The meals were quite good, not outstanding, but tasty and hearty. After stuffing ourselves silly, we both agreed we'd probably come back if we had a lot of time to kill on another trip.

Happy Pi Day!

This past Friday we celebrated Pi Day at work. Pi Day is actually today, March 14th, third month, 14th day or 3.14 if you're not a math geek. To celebrate we ordered a bunch of pies from Bee Bell Bakery and decorated the office.

There were Pi posters....

Some pie songs

Even a Pi contest...

The Pi Duo Prize

And lots of pies...

I'd really like to thank Shelley, my manager, for suggesting we that we celebrate Pi Day, and Marion our decorator extraordinaire for making it all look so great.

Until next year.

Sensi - A Treat for the Senses In Las Vegas

It was another great weekend in Vegas. I won't mention the rain and or the donation that I made to the local economy via the casinos. Most of Saturday night was spent at Bellagio. We’d booked a dinner reservation at Sensi and then had tickets to see the late show of O.

Sensi is at the back of the casino, past the gardens, on the way to the new tram station. I’ve been to the gardens many times before but didn’t realize that there was a restaurant or a little patisserie around the corner.

Jean Philippe Patisserie is a cute little shop serving chocolates, pastries, crepes, salads, and gelato and is also home to the world’s largest chocolate fountain. We were focused on our upcoming meal at Sensi so we didn’t stop, except to take some pictures of the fountain.

We arrived promptly for our reservation, but had to wait about ten minutes to be seated. It wasn’t really a problem, but their waiting area was small and contained only two uncomfortably hard, wooden benches. Once we were seated everything went smoothly. The restaurant has four kitchens that are contained within a glass walled box. It was great to watch everyone hard at work inside. Each of the kitchens produces different cuisines: Italian, Asian, American Grill and seafood. According to their website they are committed to serving sustainably grown and naturally raised products. I guess any little bit helps in a town where most of the casino hotels do no recycling. With the help of the internet, Dave and I already knew what we were ordering. Sensi offers a prix fixe menu for $55 with wine pairings for an additional $30. This menu lets you choose from two appetizers, three entrées, and two desserts

Instead of the usual bread basket, our waiter brought out a basket of naan bread and pappadums to go with the tray of sauces that were already on the table. I’m hoping that sauces were meant to go with other things too, because I found it a bit weird that they were offering soya sauce to go with the bread and crackers.

For our appetizer we both choose the Surf & Turf Beef Carpaccio. I was a little surprised by this dish. The Carpaccio, which made up the bottom layer, was not raw but seemed to be seared on the outside. It was also not the usual paper thin slices, but about three millimetres thick. There was a thin layer of grainy mustard on top of the slices along with a couple of beautiful little roasted mushrooms. Topping this were two breaded and deep-fried lobster knuckles. The lobster was nice and crispy on the outside and the meat was sweet and very flavourful. I found the knuckles to be a bit too chewy for my taste but Dave loved them. Overall, it was a very nice appetizer. Our wine pairing with this course was a Ceretto Blange Arneis. While it was a very nice wine, Dave and I both agreed it did nothing to enhance the food.

For his entrée Dave had the Kobe Flat Iron Steak with “Tator Tots”, Ice Wine Glazed Shallots and Salsa Verde. Dave offered up a slice of his steak for me to try and I found it intensely flavourful. It went really well with the salsa verde served with it. He really enjoyed his meal and found that the wine paired with it, a Volker Eisele Cabernet Sauvignon went especially well with it.

I had the Porcini Crusted Alaskan Halibut with Roasted Fall Vegetables, Truffled Macaroni and Red Wine Pancetta Sauce. My fish was perfectly cooked, firm but wonderfully flakey. While you could see the porcini on the outside, it was more of a dusting and I couldn’t distinguish any flavour of mushrooms. The roasted vegetables, mainly carrots and parsnips were finely diced and layered on top of the halibut. The sauce was full of flavour from the pancetta and every once and a while I’d come across a little salty flavour nugget of pancetta. I really loved the way the meal was presented. My photo doesn’t do it justice. The macaroni was laid out in perfect flat square over a pool of sauce, and then came the fish which was topped with the vegetables. I really enjoyed my wine pairing with this course. The Willakenzie Pinot Noir went stunningly well with the roasted vegetables and the red wine sauce.

For dessert I had the Sorbet and Gelato served @ 32° Fahrenheit. There were three different flavours served: vanilla, chocolate and salted caramel. I now have a new favourite ice cream. The salted caramel was way over the top. The three scoops were served in a cool ice bowl shaped like a tear drop. The Spanish sherry, Don PX from Toro Albala went nicely with my dessert.

Dave had the Chocolate Temptation; it reminded me of a homemade chocolate bar. It was topped with more of the wonderful salted caramel ice cream and served with a Fonseca 20 year old Tawny Port. Since Dave didn’t say a single word as he ate, fixing his concentration solely on his dessert, I’m assuming he enjoyed it as much as I enjoyed mine.

I’d recommend Sensi to anyone looking for a little splurge while in Vegas. I’m sure we’ll be back to check out other menu items. Our 7:00 pm reservation gave us plenty of time to enjoy a leisurely dinner before the 10:00 pm show of O.

Sensi at the Bellagio Casino
3600 Las Vegas Blvd South, Las Vegas

Dave Goes Evil at Evil Dave's Grill in Jasper

Off to Jasper for the weekend to go skiing! If I was much of a skier, I would have been pretty excited. Knowing that being on the hill all day would take its toll on me, I did a bit of research to find a place for dinner that would make me forget my aching backside. Evil Dave’s Grill certainly looked like it would fit the bill. It seemed perfect. I could get in a good meal and at the same time poke a little fun at Dave. I had a feeling that by the end of my ski day I’d be calling him evil for taking this poor out of shape girl up to the hill for a day of torture. I was pleasantly surprised by both the day of skiing and my dinner that night. I managed to make it through the day only falling twice and had enough energy to get through a great meal at the end of it all.

I was a bit worried when we arrived for our 7:00 pm reservation and had to wait at the door for quite awhile before we were greeted. Thankfully, that was the low point of the evening and the service was excellent after that. Although most of the decor was on the Zen side of things, with Buddhas and bamboo very prevalent, we loved the Live Nudes neon sign by the bar and the flames being shown on their TVs. Once we were settled, Dave and I both had a good laugh at the menu that featured mains like Mad Cow Lasagne (with meat) and Glad Cow Lasagne (vegetarian). Everything had great names from the Sinful Starters to the Malicious Mains.

They offer a good mix of entrees, with selections featuring beef, chicken, fish, shrimp and a couple of interesting vegetarian entrées. Dave chose the Diabolical Tenderloin and I had the Malicious Salmon. We shared a bottle of Fuzion, a Malbec Shiraz blend from Australia. It was a nice wine, not too heavy.

Our meals looked like pieces of art when they came out, with Dave’s being the more impressive of the two. His tenderloin was stacked on top of a bed of cheddar mashed potatoes, surrounded by a mixture of fresh steamed vegetables and gloriously topped by a crown of fried potato strips. The peppercorn demi-glace pooled off to one side just waiting to have the beef dunked in to it. I started to suffer from a bit of dinner envy when I sampled the demi-glace, which was rich and peppery with hints of curry. The tenderloin itself was so tender there was no need to use the steak knife provided. You could almost cut it with a fork.

Thankfully, my salmon, while not as impressive looking, was just as tasty. OK, almost as tasty. The perfectly cooked filet sat nestled on top of a mound of jasmine rice with the same fresh steamed vegetables that were on the tenderloin. I had expected that the salmon would be spicier than it was. It didn’t seem to have any of the spices that I usually associate with blackened fish but I didn’t miss them. The fresh flavour of the salmon shone through the dish and was highlighted by the creamy sweet curry yogurt sauce served on top of it. Next time I’m sure I’ll choose the tenderloin but I was not all that disappointed with the salmon.

We didn’t stay for any dessert or after dinner coffees. Instead, we moved on to the next stop down the road to sample some beer. We’ll definitely be going back to Evil Dave’s Grill next time we’re in Jasper. Now, if I can just get Dave to stop telling me how fantastic the tenderloin was...Yes, sometimes he is evil.

Evil Dave’s Grill

Patricia St & Hazel Ave, Jasper, AB

Open 4 pm – 11 pm 7 days a week,

(Open at 5 pm M-F October – May)